During the week of the Hungarian GP, the FIA announced that this year's Bahrain GP will be held in Malaysia on October 4th. The FIA has now confirmed the official start times for the event. Initially, the Bahrain Grand Prix was supposed to have taken place on 12th April, but was cancelled due to the tensions in the middle east. With the tensions still ongoing, the FIA will not be able to reschedule the Grand Prix to take place in Bahrain. So, the governments of Malaysia and Bahrain have negotiated to host the Grand Prix at the Sepang International circuit.
Given that the set-up costs for the Grand Prix will mostly be covered by the Bahrain GP organizers, it has been agreed to name the event the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite it taking place in Malaysia. This is not the first time Malaysia has hosted a F1 race. They regularly hosted the Malaysian GP from 1999 to 2017. After 2017, the organizers decided to pull out due to the rising hosting fee and not adequate returns. But given how F1 has grown since then, the organizers are looking to bring back the iconic circuit.
What time will the Bahrain GP in Malaysia take place?
The Bahrain GP at the Sepang International Circuit is due to start at 3PM local time. This is usually the standard local start time for day races. This will mean an early morning for F1 fans in the UK as the race start time would be 8AM.
For race times in other time zones, the image below will prove to be more useful.
Given the time of the year the race is set to take place, there is a good chance that we will witness a wet Malaysian GP. This could bring an interesting battle to the Sepang International Circuit. The FIA will be closely observing the event as success could result in the Malaysian GP making a comeback to the F1 calendar in the near future.
